In his latest column over at ESPN, former GM Jim Bowden breaks down the 10 players he believes are most likely to be traded before the July 31 MLB trade deadline. The leader of the pack? Zack Greinke of the Milwaukee Brewers. According to Bowden, the leader of such negotiations is the Texas Rangers who have the young talent the Brewers would need.
Bowden writes, "The Texas Rangers won't move prospect Jurickson Profar and will try everything in their power to exclude Martin Perez and Mike Olt from any deal. However, with a deep major league club and farm system, the Rangers have enough to make the Milwaukee Brewers an offer they can't refuse and allow them to place Greinke at the top of their rotation."
The dark horse here could be the very team that traded Greinke in the first place. The Royals know their former starter well enough to know what he's getting and it seems that Greinke is well past any issues he had while with the Royals in the first place. The Royals absolutely need a frontline starter and trading for Greinke could help the team get a leg up in long-term negotiations.
Another possibility is the Detroit Tigers, whose rotation is more of a mess than anyone could have predicted in 2012. Given the "win now" state of the team, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Tigers on the other end of a deal for Greinke or Ryan Dempster.